Why Employees Quit and What You Can Do About It

The reality is that your employees are looking for or open to new opportunities (as discussed previously). In some cases, you want to do whatever you can to keep someone happy and working for your company. But in other cases, it’s better for the employee and the company to part ways. In Kathleen Quinn Votaw’s book Solve the People Puzzle, she observes that many employers panic when they realize that someone intends to leave, often offering them more money in order to keep them. But this doesn’t take into account the real reasons why employees quit. Votaw explains why employees quit and what employers should do about it.

The Real Reasons Why Employees Quit

Though it might seem easy to throw money at the problem, most employees don’t leave a position because of salary concerns. The real reasons why people quit are bad cultures, bad managers, toxic environments, or feeling like they are under-appreciated or under-utilized. Asking honest questions (and making it clear that you are ok with honest answers) about why people are quitting or considering quitting can help you gain valuable insight into your company culture, management style, and employee-position fit.

As noted above, in some cases, this conversation may lead you to discover a way to retain that employee. But it also may be just as useful in terms of hiring and retaining a new employee who will be a better fit.

What to Do When An Employee Quits

Though most companies consistently state that their people are their most valuable assets, they often don’t spend the time, effort, or money needed to find and keep great people—and certainly not the resources they spend acquiring customers. So well before you find yourself with an open position, you should be thinking of recruitment more like a sales process. You should evaluate what your company truly offers and how you can communicate this to potential hires.

For each open position, find out whether there is more supply or demand. Think about what messages would resonate with the types of individuals looking for these positions. Then build a campaign that will nurture the candidate relationship in the same way that you nurture customer relationships.

A truly successful recruitment effort begins BEFORE the employee quits. Your goal should be establishing a talent pipeline and methodology towards recruitment so that new candidates are available whenever you need them, and your open positions never become a crisis.